Relia struggled to keep up as the night went on. She and her teammates walked for another six hours before the desert gave way to mountains once again. At that point, even the allnighters couldn’t keep the others on their feet.

They set up two tents in a narrow ravine beneath a rocky overhang. It might not be a cave, but it was the next best thing. Arturo pulled out two portable heaters from his bag, placing one in each tent. Next came a camouflage device, and an alarm Construct to detect intruders.

“Hey,” Relia said to Akari once they’d settled in. “Mind if I borrow your mana watch?”

Akari gave an eager nod, pulling off her glove and undoing the leather band. “We should buy you one when we get home. They’re not that expensive.”

Relia shrugged as she accepted the watch. Akari watched her own numbers like a mother drake, but that would have stressed Relia out to no end. Besides, souls didn’t always grow at a steady rate. Sometimes, you would put in a hard day of training and see minimal gains. Then you might see your numbers spike the next morning, or even several days later.

Relia held her breath as she pressed the device to the back of her wrist. The metal was warmer than she’d expected, and the screen flickered as she cycled her mana.

73/3150.

As always, the left number showed her current mana count and the right number showed her maximum.

Fifty points away from Artisan.

Akari stood on her tiptoes, looking over Relia’s shoulder. “You’re getting close,” she said. “What was your number before?”

“I don’t remember, but I think I gained thirty or forty points today.” Under normal circumstances, those gains would have been impressive for an entire week, much less a single day. But between the soulshine and their trek across Vordica . . . well, she’d hoped for more.

Relia had taken five shardbreaker pills today, and those only reduced her pain rather than suppressing it. Soon, they’d stop working altogether. When that happened, the pain would overwhelm her. She would pass out, and never wake up again.

Strangely enough, this trip made things better. The threat of death was far more terrifying when you faced it alone, in your own bedroom. Here, she faced it with her teammates in a way they never could back home. Was this part of Elend’s plan for her?

Akari stood in silence for several heartbeats, chewing on her bottom lip. She clearly wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

Relia forced out a smile as she handed back the watch. “It’ll be fine. Just a few more days.”

They divided the tents between guys and girls. With three of each, it seemed like the most logical choice for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Akari grumbled about this setup, calling it “stupid” and “old-fashioned.” They’d been doing their business in front of each other all day, so privacy didn’t matter at this point. Or so she claimed.

Arturo crossed his slender arms.”You got a better idea, shoka?”

“Sure,” Akari said. “Kalden and I can share with . . .” She made a show of glancing around the camp. “Zukan?”

Sure, Akari. Let’s all bend over backwards so you can sleep next to your boyfriend, and the group’s primary heat source.

Fortunately, she was too tired to put up a real fight. Either that, or she’d been joking about the whole thing. Who could tell with Akari? Her whole sense of humor revolved around making outrageous comments with a straight face.

Relia ducked into the girls' tent and spread her sleeping roll between Akari and Elise. Everyone still wore their cold weather gear to bed, including their boots. They’d all seen Akari’s frostbite before, and no one wanted to sample that for themselves.

“Hey,” Elise said from behind her. “Thanks for carrying me today.”

Relia shrugged without meeting Elise’s eye. “I did it for the team.” That much should have been obvious. They’d needed a Dream Artist to hide them from the dragon, whether they liked it or not. Arturo’s tech wouldn’t have been enough.

Elise shifted on her sleeping roll. “Look, I’m really sorry about what happened last semester. To both of you, I mean. I—”

“Stop.” Relia whipped around to face her. “Elend might have put you on this team, but we’re not friends. We never will be.”

Elise’s eyes fell in defeat. The expression looked genuine, but who could say with a pathological liar? Anything she said might be part of another scheme.

A part of her still wanted to give Elise another chance, but that weakness had almost gotten her friends killed before. It wouldn’t happen again.

~~~

Relia woke to blaring sirens. Arturo’s alarm.

She scrambled up from her bedroll and out the tent flap. Akari and Elise were on her heels, and they all stumbled out into the frigid night air. Her muscles were stiff from sleep, and she cycled her mana to wake them.

Kalden and Zukan emerged from their own tent in the same moment, wielding blades of glowing mana. Arturo followed them out more slowly, holding something that looked like a grenade launcher.

The alarm stopped, and Arturo gestured toward the south side of the ravine. “That way,” he said in a low voice.

The six of them fell into a quick formation. Relia joined Kalden and Zukan in the front, while the other three held up the rear.

They stepped forward and found three raptors standing at the mouth of the canyon. The creatures stood on two legs like miniature drakes. Slightly shorter than a human, they had short arms, powerful legs, and tails longer than Relia’s arm span. Electric blue scales covered their bodies, striped with pale white—the colors of pure mana and fresh snow.

“Hold position,” Kalden said. “There’s probably more out there.”

Relia nodded in agreement. She’d fought her share of raptors back on Arkala, and they usually traveled in packs of six to twelve. They also liked to set traps for their prey.

“How strong are they?” Akari asked. “I can’t see their mana.”

“Me neither,” Relia said when she relaxed her vision. “Probably a camo technique.”

“One way to find out.” Arturo inched forward and raised his weapon. “Grenade!” He pulled the trigger, and the projectile flew in a high arc across the canyon. It landed in front of the raptors with a loud blast, and Relia conjured a shield in front of her group.

Burning acid covered the raptors, and the scent of rotten eggs stung her nostrils. Flames erupted on the opposite side of the canyon, but the raptors strode forward with eerie determination. Their forms were black silhouettes against the fire, and their golden eyes glowed against the night.

Relia relaxed her vision a second time, and her opponent’s souls burned with a light that outshone the flames. These were Artisan-level mana beasts.

“Behind us!” Elise shouted.

Relia spun to see three more raptors on the canyon’s northern side. No sooner had Elise spoken than the first three raised their arms and struck with a volley of icy Missiles. Relia and the others threw up defensive Constructs, but they were no match for Artisan attacks. Their shields broke like shattered glass, and the raptors struck again.

Portals appeared on both sides of their group, catching the raptors' Missiles and hurling them back toward the opposite side.

Kalden hurried back to defend their rear. Meanwhile, Relia and Zukan seized the advantage and charged the raptors on their side. They would never beat these guys in a battle of raw mana. Up close, they might have a chance.

Zukan conjured a flaming spear and drove it toward the first raptor’s torso. The creature slapped it aside and threw Zukan hard against the canyon wall.

Another raptor hurled a Missile toward Relia. She moved with a speed that rivaled its own, ducking the attack at the last second. The Missile ripped off her hat, and she felt its icy burn graze her scalp.

Three more steps, and Relia closed the distance between her opponent. She sidestepped its next attack and drove a hand straight into its windpipe. Zukan’s attacks couldn’t pierce their Artisan bodies, but Relia’s mana was different. Most animals had evolved to accept healing, and raptors were no exception.

The death mana found the raptor’s spinal cord, and the creature dropped like a rag doll.

More mana flashed to her right as a second raptor closed it. Relia threw up a shield and altered the Missile’s course by several degrees. It soared past her face and blew a chunk of stone from the canyon wall.

She Cloaked her legs and sprang forward, driving a hand into the left side of its chest. A bird-like cry escaped its mouth as it joined its friend on the ground.

A blast sounded from the canyon’s northern side, and Relia spun toward her teammates. Kalden forced a raptor back, and Akari formed a portal beneath its feet. The creature fell through and emerged from a second portal at the top of the canyon.

A massive boulder appeared in Kalden’s outstretched hand,and he dropped it through the portal. The raptor landed on its side, and the boulder flattened its skull a heartbeat later.

Another raptor tried to flank them, but Arturo pressed a shotgun to its head and pulled the trigger. Unlike his first weapon, this blew a hole clean the creature’s face, staining the wall with a spray of crimson.

Relia was about to join her friends when something slammed into her left shoulder. The impact threw her to the ground, and another raptor leapt on top of her. Claws dug into her chest, shredding four layers of clothing and piercing the skin beneath.

She tried to break free, but it was too strong. Instead, she flared her Life Cloak, reinforcing her torso and face. Her wounds closed, but her opponent was like Vordica itself. She couldn’t strike back without dropping her defensive technique. The raptor opened its massive jaws and tried to bite down on her forehead.

Orange mana flashed at the edge of her vision as Zukan tackled the creature. He drove an arm straight into its mouth and shot fire mana down its gullet. The raptor bit down with all its might, but Zukan’s arm didn’t break.

Relia forced herself to her feet and pressed a hand to Zukan back, filling him with a burst of life mana. He held strong against his opponent, unleashing more fire into its stomach.

“Retreat!” Kalden’s voice echoed over the battle.

Relia snapped her head up and spotted more raptors at the canyon’s southern mouth. These were even larger than the first, with massive horns in the middle of their heads.

Azul’s ashes. They’d only sent in the Claws for the first wave. Now, the Fangs had come to finish the job.

She turned back to the north side, where Akari and Kalden dragged Arturo through an open portal. Blood covered his mangled right leg, and the others sported several wounds of their own. Elise was nowhere in sight.

“Let’s go.” Relia helped Zukan to his feet, and they staggered away from their fallen opponent.

She didn’t bother with any more techniques; those would only slow her down. Instead, she pumped her legs harder and ran for Akari’s open portal. The sooner she and Zukan got through, the sooner they could close it.

Mana soared past them as the other raptors closed in. She and Zukan were halfway to the portal when a massive drake appeared at the canyon’s opposite end. It looked like a larger version of the raptors, with deep blue scales covering its body.

The ground shook as the creature charged forward. Its legs were as wide as tree trunks, and its feet looked big enough to flatten her. Relia had faced drakes on Arkala, but she doubted they were half as strong as this one.

She and Zukan split up, dodging its massive body as it charged through the canyon. The drake ignored them and headed straight for the raptors, who’d abandoned their assault.

That’s convenient.

But then she saw Elise standing by the open portal with her arms outstretched. That hadn’t been a real drake at all. Just an illusion.

The raptors must have realized the same thing, because they charged forward once again.

Relia and Zukan dove through the portal, and Elise followed close behind. They emerged at the edge of a rocky cliff that overlooked a vast ocean.

No, not an ocean. The Inner Sea. They’d finally reached the northern coast.

Arturo lay on the ground, bleeding out from the deep wound in his leg. Akari sat on the ground beside him, with several slashes across her parka. To make matters worse, they’d left the protection of the canyon, and the wind struck them with full force.

“Get those techniques up,” Kalden said. “Zukan, Elise—let’s go.”

They complied at once, raising wards of heat and dream mana around the group. Kalden had already driven several mana blades into the ground, and Relia held onto the nearest one.

“Too late.” Akari pointed a shaky finger to the south, where the raptors emerged from the canyon. “They see us.”

Relia pressed a hand to Akari’s chest and filled her with life mana. “Can you make another portal?”

“Where?” Akari propped herself up on one elbow and looked around. She tried to talk, but she coughed up blood on her parka.

“Anywhere,” Relia said as she redoubled her healing efforts. Once Akari had enough life mana, she moved on to Arturo. She probably should have started with him, but it was too late for that now. Meanwhile, Akari scooted toward the edge of the group and tried to shoot a portal.

She winced halfway through the motion and shook her head. “Mana’s too low. Used it all back in the canyon.”

Relia let out a deep breath as she turned back toward the charging raptors. Kalden and Zukan already had their weapons ready, and Elise was preparing another dream technique. She glanced past her teammates toward the raptors. At least a dozen of them remained.

Oh well, things could have been worse. At least they didn’t have to deal with—

A roar cut off her thoughts, and a massive form appeared on the southern horizon.

“Shit,” Arturo said. “Suck Master’s back.”

Several of them turned to Elise, but she shook her head. This one wasn’t a trick.

The dragon glided on its massive wings as it flew toward them, riding the currents of the storm winds above. Several of the raptors scattered, but they were too late. The dragon opened its mouth and swept them up with its wind technique.

Half the pack flew into its mouth, and it clamped its jaws, sending fragments of bloody tails and limbs to blow in the wind. A few more raptors retreated toward the canyon, but the larger dragon banked around and pulled them up.

For a moment, Relia dared to hope. Maybe the dragon wouldn’t be hungry anymore? Maybe it would leave them alone?

It was a fool’s hope, of course. Everyone knew dragons killed for sport.

The creature confirmed her fears when it soared back toward Relia’s team. It fixed them with its reptilian eyes and pulled open its maw. This time, there was no vacuum of air to pull them off their feet.

Instead, the dragon released a torrent of white flame.